“Lost Tirian,” Ophelia said, patting my hand, then leading us over to the dining table like it was her place, not Shaun’s. He put the kettle on, busying himself with the tea things. “There was a schism many, many years ago.”
“Where some of us were exiled,” I said, seeing my Tirian’s vision.
“You’ve seen this?” Rhoda asked, sitting down beside Ophelia.
“Just a…little.” My eyes slide sideways, finding Shaun’s automatically connecting with mine. He held them for a minute, hands frozen from where he was pulling the mugs out of the cupboard.
“And something else as well,” the older woman said with a smile. “Time to tell all of it, I think.”
The kettle whistled as Shaun brought everything for tea over to the table, including some sliced lemon. He set the tray down and then went back for the hot water.
“You too, son of Helen.”
Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all. He returned with a full teapot of boiling water.
“I’ve only got—” he started to say, reaching for the tin of tea.
“Your offer of tea is a gracious one, Shaun, but truth first,” Ophelia said, putting her hand over the top of her mug. “We have talked long and hard, you and I, especially after what happened between you and Jules.”
Um…what? Jules was the chick who’d blundered into the workshop, telling me I needed to come stay with her. What happened between the two of them?
“I know.”
His eyes dropped down to his mug, those long fingers that had managed to wring so many beautiful feelings out of me now traced the lip of the empty cup.
“You asked us to come, said there was information you needed to share.”
He nodded, then looked up, but not at them, at me. His gaze was so different now. Desire had been scrubbed away, and there was only pain and longing, something that was quickly smothered and packed away tight. It was with this that he faced down the table.
“My Tirian thinks Bec is our mate. Hers feels the same. They recognise each other somehow, and he…”
“He what, Shaun?” Rhoda asked sharply, my back going ramrod straight in response.
“He went to mark her as his. Not me.” His hands went up as if to hold off the incoming tide of disapproval, and by the looks on their faces, he wasn’t entirely wrong. “I grabbed control of him, didn’t let it happen, but yeah…” He picked up the container of tea, loaded the pot, and then poured drinks for everyone, leaving them to add milk or sugar, but when he set the teapot down, his fingers still moved restlessly. “It makes things complicated.”
“How complicated?” I asked, a rising sense of alarm. He sounded fatalistic, like a man before a firing squad. “How is this complicated?” I looked at all three people around the table, feeling the pregnant pause grow and grow.
“I can control him,” Shaun said again, but we all heard the shake in his voice, and when he looked up, that fragile mask he’d raised had shattered. Eyes were the windows of the souls, so they said. Well, we were staring into each other’s windows right now, unable to look away. For me, it was the fact that no one had ever, ever looked at me like this. I barely knew the guy, thought he smelled delicious and he fucked like a demon, so why the hell was he looking at me like I’d hung the bloody moon? My brain rebelled, fighting that reality, sure there was another reason for this, not me, surely not me.
Why not you? Are you not worthy? my Tirian asked.
Her words made me bristle with the implied insult and forced the knife in my chest deeper. I was fucking awesome. I was funny, a good friend, nice to animals and kids, and could suck a golf ball through a garden hose if I had a mind to, but for some reason, no one, not one person, had ever wanted to spend more than a few weeks by my side. I’d rolled with that, done the best I could, but… A feeling of icy cold washed from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. Maybe that was about to change.
“She can’t stay here,” Rhoda said.
“What?” Shaun and I snapped.
“A man marking a woman against her wil
l? Especially one with a history of indiscretion.” The look Rhoda shot Shaun wasn’t completely unkind, but there was a definite censure there. “She should be moved to one of the honeymoon cottages. We could set her up with a viewing today, let her choose her partners without the undue influence of others. It’s been too long since the single men have had a chance to present themselves. It would be good for her and them.”
Her input came out as a definite statement, as if it was all a foregone conclusion.
“A viewing is when the single men put themselves forward as potential choices. You may select as many as you like to help you satisfy your heat, or you can take men as mates.” Suddenly, all I could see was Ethan’s hand sliding down that taut stomach. “The process is usually a permanent one, so keep that in mind,” Ophelia said. “A honeymoon suite is a little ironic name for some cabins we keep for unmated women who are going into heat. They’re away from the rest of the community, no children allowed close for obvious reasons, and they’re kept secure and away from the single men. Only those invited in may enter.”
Sweat began to prickle again on my skin as they brought my attention back to my current state, and wasn’t that an uncomfortable thing? I fidgeted in my chair, feeling the same sense of needing to hide what I was going through that I always did, but when the ladies looked down the table at me, I saw calm and compassion. They knew exactly what I was going through, having been through it themselves.
“I…” My throat closed on my words, so I took a sip of tea to try and loosen it. “I would like that, thank you.”